Hey AirBnB. I hope you're listening. Sneaking in service charges and "cleaning fees" is no bueno. I know it's not you doing the later but I hate it when I find an apartment at an appropriate price then good hoodwinked for additional services I don't particularly care for.
Cleaning fees make perfect sense to me. When renting a house out, if I stay 1 night, the owner has to clean the house once. If I stay 1 week, the owner has to clean the house once. Seems like this is just matching pricing to costs.
Cleaning fees and service fees, to me, are like delivery fees. Everyone assumes they are paying for them in the rental.
And almost everyone I know uses AirBnB because it is cheaper than a hotel. But once you start adding on fees that value diminishes. The last place I rented wasn't exactly located downtown and, after all the fees, only $15/night cheaper than a hotel. Our final 2 nights we stayed at a hotel and had a lot more fun.
I've been a big proponent of Airbnb but my last stay reminded me that civilians are civilians and tourists are tourists. Some have very different expectations when it comes to housing.
That's not how I treat AirBnB at all; I use AirBnB to stay at a place that's not a hotel. Sometimes it ends up being a lot more expensive (i.e.: when renting out a cabin, or an on-beach room), but exactly what I want.
That's actually the reason there's no cleaning fee; its more or less the same amount of work per day, regardless of turnover. If it only gets cleaned once at the end of each stay (typical of AirBnB), then it costs more per day for a 1-night guest than a 7-night guest. Adding fixed fees in additional to the daily rate allows the price to match the cost better.
Nobody is saying that there can't be extra fees, and this EU law does not outlaw extra fees. It outlaws not telling the consumer about extra fees up-front, or sneaking extra fees into the purchase.
Yes, I was assuming that the cleaning fee was listed upfront. I have frequently seen these listed when booking right in the pricing section. If they aren't listed, then they are definitely unethical and I wouldn't pay it.
I think most people would be OK with an additional flat fee so long as the notice is clear and conspicuous. For example, if I were renting a space daily and had to tack on a flat cleaning fee, I might write something like this:
$99 per day, plus $20 flat fee
In other words, you can develop whatever fee structure you want. You just have to adequately explain it to customers so they can make an informed decision.
Shouldn't the price be $119 in that case? I get bothered when someone thinks I'm dumb enough to not notice their little price increase in the form of a fee. I am not OK with that.
I would prefer to deal with honest folks that just give you the price straight away.
I only interface with assholey businesses that add fees when I have no other choice. I have no allegiance to those types of businesses. I'm thinking Delta, Southwest, every car rental place, Wells Fargo, most cell phone companies, etc.
Shouldn't the cleaning fee only be a one time extra though? $119 for one night sure, but I'd rather pay $515 than $595 for five days. How would you add the flat fee to the nightly rate without knowing how long the stay will be?
FWIW, I recall the latter being included in the nightly rate when I was searching for places. It does switch to an itemized list of expenses when you actually view a property though.
